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ISSN 0160-0699

Volume 31, No. 2, Jun 2008

Art Reader

NY Times Magazine for 8 June was dedicated to Architecture. It included how the future of cities was dictated by sets in older movies (thanks to A.O. Scott), a view into Bernard Tschumi’s Chelsea loft, Dutch architects create multiple housing with high-rise residential living and much more.

In the 18 May issue, there is an article by Virginia Heffernan entitled “Pixels at an Exhibition” on how visual artists use YouTube.

New Yorker for 26 May features a profile of Paul Chan by none other than Calvin Tomkins.

In the same issue, Peter Schjeldahl reviews the show at the Jewish Museum,“Action/Abstraction” which covers the fifties in words and paintings.

The 23 June issue has an article by Judith Thurman on the cave paintings of Southern France and what does this world’s oldest art say about us.

Smithsonian for April 2008 has an article by Avis Berman on how Courbet was an artist “Larger than Life”, making the careers of Koons, Hirst and Mapplethorpe seem almost conventional.

The May issue contains an article about Winslow Homer’s mastery in watercolor medium by Robert M. Poole.

Afterimage for March/April has a fascinating Portfolio by Doug Manchee called “Archive” which shows the potential of the VSW Archive as a visual system or apparatus that enables the artifacts in the archive to exist.

A review of Hiroshi Sugimoto’s History of History exhibition is reviewed by Ara H. Merjian. It was curated by Sugimoto and contains objects from the anthropological to the inventive, from the visual immediacy of the photography to the circuitous cerebrations of conceptualism.

Henri Chopin (1922-2008) is memorialized as an architect of sound spaces in Inter for Spring 2008. He died on 3 January in his home in Dereham, in Norfolk, UK.

Eugenio Miccini (1933-2007) is also memorialized in this issue by Giovanni Fontana as a master of Visual Poetry. There is also an article by Jacques Donguy on Pataphysics, Dada,Fluxus & Situationists.as well as Charles Dreyfus’ long article on the dénouement of Fluxus.

“A Man Who Loves Big Museums” by Jori Finkel appeared in the 18 May Arts & Leisure section of the NY Times.

ARTnews for June 2008 was dedicated to Ecology and how artists are trying to save the Planet, while Art in America dedicates its summer issue to Art & Politics, keeping us aware that artists can make a difference.